Nashville is celebrating 100 years of the show that made it Music City. Country’s Grandest Stage: The Opry at 100, now on view at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum through March 2027, honors the Grand Ole Opry — the longest-running radio show in the world — with a joyful look at the performers and moments that built a broadcasting legend.
The exhibition is packed with treasures from the Opry’s first century. Visitors can see a 1939 transcription disc from the Prince Albert Show, Pee Wee King’s accordion, Kitty Cora Cline’s dulcimer and Cousin Jody’s beloved Gibson lap steel guitar, nicknamed the “biscuit board.” Martina McBride’s dress, worn at the Opry in 2005, Rod Brasfield’s hat and founder George D. Hay’s wooden steamboat whistle round out a display that feels like a family reunion of country music history.
A famous photograph of the Opry cast gathered at the Ryman Auditorium in 1956 anchors the story, reminding visitors how a Saturday night barn dance grew into an American institution. The exhibition is included with museum admission at the Hall of Fame’s downtown home at 222 Rep. John Lewis Way S, making it an easy, happy stop for anyone who loves music, radio history or a good story well told.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
